


"His ego is so visible; I can almost watch it grow."

by Yuuki_Nyanmaru



Series: The Basketball's Magic [1]
Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22258510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuuki_Nyanmaru/pseuds/Yuuki_Nyanmaru
Summary: “Look who is here,” he exclaimed.“Sakurai Sho? What is he doing here?”Out of all the high schoolers who used to hang out in that park, Sakurai was the last person he could think to run into.
Relationships: Aiba Masaki/Sakurai Sho
Series: The Basketball's Magic [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602271
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8
Collections: Sakuraiba Tanabata 2019-2020





	"His ego is so visible; I can almost watch it grow."

**Author's Note:**

> Twenty-second drabble of the Sakuraiba Tanabata 2019-2020!
> 
> This is a two-part series, hope you like it!  
> P.S: I LOVE HIGH SCHOOL AUs AND EVERYONE KNOWS BY NOW DON'T TOUCH ME

Aiba’s eyes were following closely the ball, which was now moving from Matsumoto to Ohno. He was alone against the two, but he was taller and faster than them, so he could win that match. He was man-marked by Jun as the older guy was preparing for scoring a three-point; just as the latter was about to jump, Aiba managed to get away and ran to steal the ball, rushing towards his opponents’ hoop.

“Score!” he shouted as he jumped and threw in the ball.

“Aiba is the first one to reach 20 points, so, we have a winner!” Nino exclaimed by the bench where he was observing the game and counting the scores.

“I can’t believe it,” Jun said, falling down on the court, followed by Ohno.

“I’ve told you that you couldn’t win, even if you were two while I was alone, although, some help would have been gladly welcomed,” he said while glaring slightly at his best friend, who was now walking up to them.

“Hey, did you see me? Do you think I’m someone who gets along well with sports?”

“Didn’t you start running recently?” asked Ohno.

“Yeah, but nothing too serious,” the guy joked, causing his friends to laugh.

Aiba liked very much spending time with his friends at the basket court near their school; since his grades weren’t really good, his parents had forbidden him to join any club so he could focus on studying, so, the only way to play basketball was this one. The other three weren’t big fans of it, but they were willing to go along with Aiba and his desires. After all, he was always doing the same for his friends as well.

“Should we go for another round?” he proposed.

“For me it’s fine, but this time, I want Nino to join too,” replied Jun, standing up.

“No way.”

Soon, the youngest started to chase the other boy, causing him to run for all the court for not getting caught and being forced to play. Ohno watched the scene from his sitting position while Aiba shook his head, chuckling at his friends’ behaviour.

“If this gets long, we could do a one-on-one,” Ohno suggested, probably guessing that Matsumoto and Ninomiya wouldn’t finish their tag game.

“That’s fine by me,” he accepted, “I’ll go get the ball.”

The ball was still on the other side of the court, where Masaki had scored the final point. Before he could start walking towards it, though, he noticed a familiar figure standing outside the court, watching them through the fence.

“Look who is here,” he exclaimed.

“Sakurai Sho? What is he doing here?”

Out of all the high schoolers who used to hang out in that park, Sakurai was the last person he could think to run into. Member of the student council, one of the top students of his school, he was known for being a lone wolf. Aiba could imagine very well why: he wasn’t a friendly type and preferred to spend time with books than with humans. Also, probably, everyone around him wasn’t good enough for Mr.Perfect.

“His ego is so visible; I can almost watch it grow,” Aiba blurted out.

“Don’t say like this, we don’t even know him,” his friend told him. Since he wasn’t receiving any reply, he stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Look, I’ve told you that two weeks ago I’ve talked to him, right? When I bumped into him at the school gate. He is not at all as he is portrayed.”

“Just because he didn’t tell you openly, it doesn’t mean that he didn’t curse you in his head. If I were you, I would go to a temple and get a _mamori_.”

The older boy chuckled and moved his hand from his shoulder to his hair, so that he could raffle Masaki’s hair and push him gently, “Go get the ball and be gentle.”

Aiba snorted but eventually moved and went to the left side of the court. The ball was very near to the spot where Sakurai was standing and, even though he didn’t even want to look at him, he knew that he had to listen to his friend’s wise words.

Reaching the ball, he picked it up and stood there, still, staring at it. He passed it from his right hand to the other one before dribbling it and doing some feints to an imaginary opponent. He wasn’t showing off his skills, he just couldn’t bear the other’s gaze on him, so he had to do something to distract himself. He even went up to the hoop and hit the basket again.

Turning, Aiba saw that Sakurai was still staring at him, but he couldn’t quite tell the meaning behind his gaze. Sighing, he walked up to him, “Do you need anything?” he asked, trying to be as polite as possible.

“You seem to have fun,” the boy replied.

“I do have fun,” he affirmed.

“Is it difficult to play basketball?”

He was taken aback by that question. Could it be that the four-eyes was interested in sports?

“It depends, I guess. For me, it’s not difficult at all, but for example, to Ohno, it took quite a bit to get the hang of it,” he explained.

“I see,” Sakurai looked down and tightened his grip around his schoolbag, before raising his head and asking, “Could you teach me?”

“What?” Aiba questioned, genuinely confused and surprised.

“I can pay you if you want, or I can help you with your homework, or I can even do both, but please…” the guy pleaded him, putting his hands on the fence and looking straight into his eyes.

“Why do you want to learn it?”

“Maybe people will stop to avoid me if I do what someone friendly would do. You know, no matter how much they don’t show it, everyone gets lonely...”

Aiba’s eyes widened, he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. The boy he had despised had just confessed to feeling alone, and he himself was one of the people rejecting him. Ohno was truly right, the guy was just misunderstood. How could he had been so blind and cruel?

“Come inside, I’ll teach you. You don’t have to pay me, but I’ll gladly accept a hand for my homework.”

On Sho’s face, a wide smile appeared as soon as he spoke those words and the student immediately did as told.

He felt very sorry for having judged wrongly the other guy and he hoped that with this, he could have redeemed himself. As of that moment, Sakurai Sho wasn’t a lone wolf anymore because he had just made a friend.


End file.
